journalist/ filmmaker

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Archived Work

Below is sample of published work related to “terrorism,” immigration/transnationalism, Hurricane Katrina and that endless fascination that is New York City. All links are to pdf version of reports.

Coverage of trials that grew out of the Sept 11 2001 attacks on New York City. All reports were published in The Washington Post.

The case of Sheik Mohammed Ali Hassan Moayad drew particular attention after Attorney General John Ashcroft labeled him Osama Bin Laden’s “spiritual advisor.” It emerged during the trial their relationship had ended years before 2001. The case continued to attract attention after the FBI informant in the case set himself on fire outside of the White House.

Translator_LynneStewart_conviction Mohammed Yousry was convicted along with New York attorney Lynne Stewart on charges of providing material support for terrorism. Yousery had served as Stewart’s translator in her dealings with Sheik Abdel Rahman, known as the “blind sheikh” who was convicted in a conspiracy to blow up the United Nations and two New York City tunnels. From our lengthy review of the court documents and transcripts in the Yousry case we concluded, ‘prosecutors advanced no evidence to back up certain claims, including the assertion that Yousry was in touch with Middle Eastern terrorists.’

Humble Roots of N.J. Native_Saudi Arabia In June 2004 a U.S. contractor working in Saudi Arabia was kidnapped by extremists linked to Al Qaeda. He was soon beheaded. I reported from his hometown in New Jersey.

BlackPanther_HurricaneKatrina NEW ORLEANS — Malik Rahim, a granddaddy with a broad face and long gray dreadlocks, leans across his wooden kitchen table and with a low Nawlins growl lets you know what he thinks local pols did for racial harmony.

“I’m far from being a Republican, but I got to call it the way it is,” he says. “They had a shoot-to-kill order on African Americans in this city with an African American mayor.”
He catches himself.
“Let me rephrase that: A so-called African American mayor and a so-called African American police chief. They sat here and allowed this governor to declare martial law on African Americans.”

For a radio report that aired on NPR’s Day to Day –Day Laborers Forge Friendship in Hurricane’s Wake. Click here.

Immigration/Transnationalism

NYC_Latinos_CAFTAFor some Latinos with financial and familial connections in CAFTA countries, the trade agreement inspires optimism that open markets will create business opportunities and jobs, and reduce the need for immigration to the north. But opponents see a far grimmer future. They fear that if promised well-paying jobs fail to materialize, more of their salaries will go to subsidize families abroad through money transfers known as remittances. They warn that the agreement will wreck micro-businesses in Latin America and lead to a profusion of yet more low-wage jobs, which would in turn fuel migration northward.

Long Island’s Economy and Culture Shapes Views “I can see the reaction, the lack of respect, if you come to their houses,” Lippolt says with a sigh.“You’re definitely looked down upon, especially on Long Island. You’re looked upon as a day laborer to these people, as their servants.”
White men on Long Island in the financial and banking industries outnumber those in construction and the trades by 3 to 1, according to a recent Census study. And the blue-collar work has browned. Spanish-speaking immigrants — legal and illegal — now take on manual labor jobs. But if they are needed, they are not always welcome.

The green is draining out of the Irish immigration boom that revitalized neighborhoods across New York over the past two decades.Fear of getting caught in a post-Sept. 11 net coupled with the booming economy in Ireland is drawing thousands of Irish back to the Emerald Isle. Numbers vary on how many have left…

Remittances-Funds Sent to Needy Families Exact a Price Millions of immigrants make weekly or monthly pilgrimages to money-transfer storefronts where they send small fortunes—called remittances—to families in places from Eastern Europe to the tip of the Americas. Modern technology and a global economy have tethered immigrants more closely than ever before to their distant homelands. But as parents send money back to their homelands, their U.S.-raised children grow up balancing an allegiance to a distant family with immediate wants and needs.